[Report of]
Preordination exams have been administered to candidates seeking ordination as minister of Word and Sacrament since 1967. This has been the responsibility of the Presbyteries' Cooperative Committee on Examinations for Candidates.
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On February 4, 2000, the Bible Content Examination was administered to 512 candidates. Persons passing the exam, 75.4 percent or 386 out of 512 candidates.
The four remaining ordination examinations were administered to 418 candidates on February 18-19, 2000. Of the total, 144 wrote exams for the first time, with forty-five passing all four of the exams. Of the 274 who were rewriting exams that they had previously failed, 130 passed the exams successfully. While nearly one-third of the candidates must rewrite one or more exams, most of them quickly manage to finish the requirement of passing the exams. The pass/fail rate was as follows:
| ------------------------------------------------- | Pass------ | Fail-------- |
| Biblical Exegesis | 63.4 | 36.6 |
| Theological Competence | 63.2 | 36.8 |
| Worship and Sacraments | 78.2 | 21.8 |
| Church Polity | 75.2 | 24.8 |
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Ordination Examinations also were administered on September 15-16, 2000, to 474 candidates. Of the total, 211 (44.5 percent) wrote all four exams with 95 passing all four exams. The pass/fail rate was as follows:
| ------------------------------------------------- | Pass------ | Fail-------- |
| Biblical Exegesis | 68.2 | 31.8 |
| Theological Competence | 66.7 | 33.3 |
| Worship and Sacraments | 72.8 | 27.2 |
| Church Polity | 75.6 | 24.4 |
[From Minutes, 213th General Assembly, 2001, Part I, Journal, Presbyterian Church (USA), page 661.]